


Not Going Anywhere

by lovesnarf (snarfette)



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Car Accident, M/M, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 03:53:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14803856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarfette/pseuds/lovesnarf
Summary: “He knew what had happened: there was no bewilderment or confusion. The van skidding towards them, Robert’s yell in warning, the screeching of metal...and then the darkness. The moments leading up to this one were as clear as day and painfully familiar. Hadn’t they been here before?”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A little ficlet inspired by some posts on tumblr about Aaron not wanting to leave Robert when he was hurt and about how Robron fans just love to see those boys in danger!

This couldn’t be happening again.

Aaron squeezed his eyes more tightly closed as the persistent throbbing in his head forced him awake.

He knew what had happened: there was no bewilderment or confusion. The van skidding towards them, Robert’s yell in warning, the screeching of metal...and then the darkness. The moments leading up to this one were as clear as day and painfully familiar. Hadn’t they been here before?

Only this time there was no-one shouting in his ear to wake him up. There was just silence. He was almost too afraid to open his eyes, terrified of what he’d find, because last time this had happened Robert had been desperately trying to drag him out of unconsciousness, but now there was nothing but silence.

Remembering Robert’s frantic face when he’d first opened his eyes, trapped in that car at the bottom of the lake, and how Robert had immediately become calm and controlled and taken charge of the situation, fighting past his own fear, gave Aaron the strength to open his eyes.

He stared straight out of the smashed windscreen and blinked a few times, realising that they must’ve ended up a long way from the road seeing as they were surrounded by trees and bushes. Vaguely he thought that the car had possibly rolled on its way to their current location but, as clear as his other memories were, he couldn’t be sure about that. Something about trying to remember made his heart flutter in panic: he had to check on Robert. Why hadn’t his husband made any sound yet? Why wasn’t he repeatedly calling Aaron’s name in his attempts to get his attention?

Carefully, he turned his head and drew in a sharp breath at the sight of Robert. His husband’s face was slightly turned away from him, like he was staring out of the window, his head lolled back against his headrest, the long pale line of his neck exposed. He was frighteningly still.

“Rob?” he grunted, wriggling as he tried to reach out to him. His seatbelt had locked in place and he was held firmly by its grip. “Robert?” he called again, “Robert!”, getting frustrated already by the restraint around him and the lack of response from Robert. Although it wasn’t really frustration at Robert: it was more like panic. He could feel it bubbling inside him every time he said his husband’s name and got no response.

Letting out an angry sigh, he jabbed at the seatbelt until it released him and he noticed for the first time that he could breathe a little easier. His chest hurt: he could feel all the places the belt had pressed against him as it had held him firmly in place. But he was free.

He leant closer to Robert, but his hand shook as he reached out to touch him. He patted his arm, not really knowing where it was safe to touch and not wanting to do any more harm. “Robert?” he repeated, knowing that his voice was sounding more and more desperate the longer he went without getting any reaction.

He couldn’t see Robert’s face properly so he turned to the door of the car and, after several attempts, managed to force it open. He stumbled out and had to support himself against the side of the car as his legs felt like jelly beneath him. Using the car to hold himself up, he managed to make his way around to Robert’s side. The left side of the car was more badly damaged and the passenger door was crumpled, but he grabbed the handle and tugged and battled with it until it finally yielded and opened with a screech of metal.

Immediately, Aaron leant inside. The left side of Robert’s face was covered in blood, a nasty wound along the side of his head still oozing bright red blood. There was blood on his shirt too. And his skin was pale and clammy when Aaron carefully took hold of his hand.

“Robert!” he shouted frantically. “Robert, wake up! Please, wake up!” There were tears trickling down his face and his heart was hammering in his chest. He squeezed Robert’s hand in fear: this couldn’t be it. “Please, Robert. I don’t know what to do.”

There was a soft groan and Aaron’s eyes widened as he felt Robert’s hand twitching as he held it.

“Come on,” he urged, “Robert? Come on. Can you hear me? Rob?”

Aaron watched intently and held his breath as Robert’s eyelids fluttered. He kept calling out to Robert in a desperate attempt to force him to open his eyes.

Robert’s head moved ever so slightly and he blearily looked at Aaron. “Wha’ ya doin’?” he mumbled as he tried to focus on his husband.

“Trying to wake you up,” Aaron told him as he wiped at his nose with the sleeve of his hoodie and then brushed the tears off his cheeks roughly.

“Wha’s wrong?” Robert asked as he watched his actions. It looked like holding his eyes open was taking a lot of effort: each blink seemed to take an eternity.

Aaron sniffed again and knelt down on the ground next to the car, hand still holding Robert’s. “Don’t be scared,” he said gently. “We’ve been in an accident.”

That seemed to force Robert to become more alert and he tried to push himself up in his seat before he hissed in pain and stopped moving. He blinked more rapidly and tried to focus on Aaron. “Are you...alright?” he asked, but it sounded like an effort to string the words together.

Aaron nodded quickly. “I’m okay,” he reassured, “I’ll be fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”

“You’re bleeding,” Robert told him as he slowly lifted his free hand to point in the direction of Aaron’s face. His hand dropped back to his lap almost immediately and he looked exhausted from the effort. His eyes fell shut again for a long moment and Aaron felt panic rush through him again.

“Robert!” he snapped. “Open your eyes: you have to stay awake,” he added when Robert looked at him again.

“Okay,” Robert sighed, but he looked seconds away from allowing his eyes to close again.

Aaron fumbled around in his pocket for his phone but then remembered it had been plugged into the car as they’d been driving. He squeezed Robert’s hand again. “Stay awake,” he ordered, before he rushed back to the driver’s side. He leaned in and searched around for his phone but it was no longer connected to the cable. “Shit,” he muttered under his breath, “shit, shit, shit.”

He returned to the passenger side of the car and found Robert waiting for him.

“I did...as I was told,” he said, with a weak smile tugging at his lips. “Aaron...” The smile suddenly fell from his face. “You need to go and get some help.”

Immediately, Aaron shook his head. “I can’t leave you.”

“Don’t think...you’ve got any choice,” Robert told him. “You’ve got to go.”

“I can’t,” Aaron said desperately. “I’m not leaving you. You didn’t leave me behind and I’m not leaving you.”

Robert tried to smile at him again. “I’ll still be here...when you get back - I promise.”

Choking back a sob, Aaron sank down to his knees beside the car and took hold of Robert’s hand again.

What kind of choice was this? What if he left to get help and something happened to Robert while he was gone? But what if he waited and the delay in getting help meant Robert’s condition was made worse? What if this was it? What if he ran back up to the road and Robert slipped away all alone in the car without Aaron even realising? What if he rushed back to find Robert cold and gone?

“Promise me,” he started and then drew in a deep shuddering breath. “Promise me you’ll stay awake. Promise me you won’t leave me.”

“I promise. I’m not...going anywhere,” Robert whispered.

Aaron didn’t know whether he meant in that moment or if he realised the deeper meaning of his vow. Pushing himself up to his feet again, Aaron blew out a long breath. He leant forward and pressed a kiss against Robert’s forehead. “I’m coming back,” he said with determination, his eyes looking into Robert’s. “You’d better be awake when I get here.”

Robert let out a little chuckle and then winced again. “I know...it wouldn’t be worth...pissing you off,” he muttered.

“I love you,” Aaron told him. He could feel tears welling in his eyes again.

“Love you too,” Robert breathed out.

“I’m coming back,” Aaron repeated. “I promise, I’m coming back.”

“I know,” Robert whispered.

Aaron stepped away from the car and looked at his husband. He offered him a watery smile and started running back towards the road.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It would appear that everyone wanted to know what happened after Aaron had left Robert in the car, so you asked and I delivered. I hope this is a suitable follow-up for you all! As always, please let me know what you thought. :)

Aaron had never run as fast.

Despite the pain in his leg and the blood that was dribbling down his face from the cut above his eyebrow, he kept running.

Even when he’d been training and running and pushing himself beyond his limits as a way of punishing himself, he’d never run like this.

He could see the car again, still crumpled and steaming, as he scrambled towards it.

Desperately, he rushed to the open passenger door.

“Rob, I’m back,” he panted heavily. “Help’s on the way.”

And then he shook his head in horror, in disbelief. Robert’s eyes were closed, his head hanging forwards, his skin deathly pale, blood dripping from the cut on his head. His hands were limp in his lap.

“Rob?” he called. “Robert?” He reached into the car and touched his shoulder, shaking him ever so slightly. There was no reaction and Aaron felt himself panic.

“Robert? Wake up!” he shouted. “Wake up!”

He could feel the fear building within him. He could feel the pain and the horror and the anguish.

“Robert! Please, wake up.”

He shook him again, more forcefully this time, but Robert didn’t react at all.

Tears were falling down Aaron’s face and he hadn’t even realised he was sobbing, desperately repeating Robert’s name as he tried to wake him up.

“You said you’d stay awake!” he yelled at his husband’s unresponsive body. “You promised me!”

Collapsing onto his knees, Aaron leant forward and pressed his forehead against Robert’s thigh as he screamed in sheer devastation.

“You said you wouldn’t leave me,” Aaron cried bitterly.

He picked up Robert’s hand that was still lying limply against his leg and threaded their fingers together. Robert’s were cold. “Don’t leave me,” he whispered, as he choked back another sob.

 

Aaron jolted awake and stared around the off-white, brightly lit hospital room. He squinted against the light but then immediately looked at the bed in the centre of the room. His heart was still pounding from the nightmare he’d woken from: he felt like he had actually just run as fast as he could to save Robert, not just dreamt it.

He pushed himself out of the chair and staggered towards the bed.

Robert was sleeping soundly, his head turned to the side ever so slightly so the stark white bandage taped over the wound on his head was unmissable, the bruises down the side of his face dark against his paler than usual skin. His breathing was deep and steady, and Aaron took a deep breath of his own.

The relief of seeing Robert safely tucked up in his hospital bed helped to chase the images from his nightmare away.

 

After leaving Robert in the car, he had run faster than ever before. But when he’d made it back to the smashed-up vehicle, after flagging down another motorist and calling for help, Robert had kept his promise and was still awake despite looking like it was a painful struggle to hold his eyes open.

“You’re awake,” Aaron had stated as relief had flooded through him. He’d sunk down to his knees again, despite the pain in his leg, and grabbed Robert’s hand in a tight grasp.

“Promised you...didn’t I?” Robert had murmured in response.

“Help’s on the way,” Aaron had told him, “Just hold on.”

Robert had tried for a smile, but it was barely there and the effort of something so small had seemed to exhaust him. “Glad...you’re here...with me.”

“I’m not going anywhere now,” Aaron had reassured him.

And he’d knelt by his side until the paramedics and the fire crew arrived, holding Robert’s hand tightly and telling him a load of nonsense to help keep him awake.

 

Robert’s breathing hitched a little and Aaron stepped closer, a gentle hand on Robert’s arm to let him know he was there.

Slowly, Robert’s eyes opened and he blinked at Aaron a few times. It wasn’t the first time he’d woken up since arriving at the hospital, but he still took a moment to register where he was.

“Still...here?” he asked, his voice gravelly and hoarse.

“Course,” Aaron replied, his own voice almost as gruff. The emotion of the day was catching up with him: he was exhausted emotionally and physically.

“Are you...alright?” Robert asked as he peered up at him blearily. He lifted his hand off the bed as high as he could manage and pointed at Aaron’s face. “You’re...hurt,” he said simply, obviously referring to the cut above Aaron’s eyebrow which had been covered with steri-strips when he’d arrived at the hospital, despite his protestations that he was fine and just needed to be with his husband.

The words and the actions were so similar to what Robert had said as he was trapped in the car that Aaron had to swallow thickly before he could speak. “I’m fine,” he told him. “You’re the one in the hospital bed.” He trailed off and took Robert’s hand in his own; his fingers were soft and warm. “You scared me,” he admitted.

Robert squeezed his fingers slightly in return. It was weak but more than Aaron had expected. Robert was stronger than anyone realised.

“I’m not...going anywhere,” Robert told him, echoing Aaron’s own words from when he’d come back to him at the car.

“You’d better not be,” Aaron replied. He lifted Robert’s hand to his mouth and kissed his fingers.

“Can I have...a proper kiss?” Robert asked as he looked up at Aaron. His eyes were not as bright as usual, the blue made slightly dull by the exhaustion and pain and drugs he was currently on, but Aaron could still see the sparkle in them, the cheekiness that was so Robert.

Aaron rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help the smile that tugged at his mouth. He leant down and pressed his lips gently against Robert’s, his fingers gently stroking the uninjured side of his face. It was a chaste kiss, but enough to banish Aaron’s fears of losing Robert.

When Aaron pulled away slightly, he looked into Robert’s eyes and gently slid his fingers into the hair at the side of Robert’s head.

“Stay with me?” Robert whispered.

Aaron smiled softly at him. “Always.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you’re not too traumatised by how I started this part! *evil grin*

**Author's Note:**

> I’m snarfettelove on tumblr. 
> 
> Please let me know what you thought.


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